RECAP >> The Emmaus girls soccer team had an early wake up call to the start of its 2019 season on Saturday morning as the Hornets traveled up to Northampton to take on an improved Konkrete Kids squad in their Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC) opener.
Even before head coach Sarah Oswald’s team had a chance to settle in on the beautiful turf at Joan Kremus Field, the Hornets found themselves in an early hole as the hosts jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the match.
Despite the slow start, Emmaus was able to rally as they scored three unanswered goals, and then held off a late Northampton rally to win its season-opener 3-2.
Junior Madison Brown scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner in the second half, while senior goalie Alexa Ryan came up with a number of big saves as Emmaus defeated the K-Kids for the second consecutive year to start their season.
“We asked the girls to show what we have been working on all throughout the summer and in the pre-season and we knew that Northampton was going to be a good, physical team with a lot of attacking presence,” said Oswald, the Hornets fifth year coach.
“I thought our back-line did an excellent job and the goals that we scored were quality ones from two girls that we will be looking to continue to do that all season long.”
Northampton, a team that entered the season with a lot of optimism following a successful Summer which saw them go undefeated and win the Lehigh Valley Scholastic Summer League championship, jumped on the scoreboard first in the 2nd minute of play as sophomore Raine Korpics took a pass from teammate senior Abbi Czarnecki and her shot beat Ryan to the far post to give the K-Kids a quick 1-0 lead.
Emmaus would respond, however, as Brown scored the first of her two goals in the 10th minute on a nearly impossible angle with her shot from the left wing finding the back of the net far post.
“It wasn’t suppose to be a goal, it was suppose to be a crossing pass but whatever works, I guess,” laughed Brown. “I was really shocked that it went in but we needed that game-tying goal.”
Freshman Madison Woodward followed up Brown’s score with her first career varsity goal in the 30th minute to give the Hornets the lead for good at 2-1. Woodward, one of three ninth-graders on the roster, launched a beautiful shot from 25 yards out over the outstretched arms of senior goalie Payce Korpics.
Brown then closed out the scoring in the 52nd minute of the second half as she took a pass from teammate senior Gianna Albanese and scored what proved to be the game-winner to make it 3-1.
The insurance goal proved to be big as Northampton wouldn’t go away quietly as Czarnecki answered Brown’s score with her first goal of the season just a minute later to make it 3-2. That would be as close as the K-Kids would get, however, as they suffered their first loss of the season after defeating Southern Lehigh 3-0 in a non-league match on Friday.
Raine Korpics and Czarnecki each had a goal and an assist for Northampton which dropped to 1-1 on the season.
The one-goal game was the third straight in the series between the two schools. A year ago, the Hornets defeated Northampton 1-0 to open the season before Northampton was able to get revenge, rallying for a wild 5-4 win in overtime in a game in which they trailed by two goals with under five minutes to play in regulation.
Ryan picked up the win in goal and was credited with 11 saves, including a number of key stops as Northampton was looking for the game-tying goal late. Her counterpart, Korpics made 16 saves. The K-Kids held a 5-3 advantage in corners.
The tough early-season schedule for the Hornets will continue next week with three games in four days, beginning with a road trip to rival Parkland on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
“Next week we have to worry about Parkland, Nazareth on Friday and a non-conference game on Saturday at Wilson West Lawn, all are really competitive teams with quality coaches,” said Oswald. “We are going to have to make sure we bring our ‘A’ game.”
Follow @Emmaussports.com on Twitter and ‘like’ Emmaus girls soccer on facebook to keep up to date on the team throughout the season.
To listen to a full replay of yesterday’s game, visit www.pennsportsradio.com
Emmaus – 2-1 – 3
Northampton – 1-1 – 2
Em goals – Madison Brown (’10), Madison Woodward (’30), Brown (’52)
Em assists – Gianna Albanese
No goals – Raine Korpics (‘2), Abbi Czarnecki (’53)
No assists – Czarnecki, Korpics